Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2018-12-25 23:27
I was just re-reading Ben Armato's booklet, "Perfect a Reed ... and Beyond." When I got to the section about warped reeds, I was reminded of his recommendation (insistence, really, as I discovered in a phone conversation with him once) that reeds be wet by placing them butt-down, not vamp-down, in a half inch of water. The water is meant to soak up through the reed. He mentions 5 minutes in the booklet.
I remember trying this when I first talked to him about it maybe 20 years ago and, for the heck of it, I tried doing it again today with a batch of new, unplayed reeds. The reeds that I wet this way don't seem to be any more flexible than a dry reed taken straight out of the box. I am scratching my head wondering, just as I did the first time, how this can possibly work.
Armato was an accomplished player in the NY Metropolitan Opera orchestra, and I assume he prepared his reeds this way before he played on them. so I've always been reluctant to write it off out of hand.
Has anyone here adopted this procedure? For anyone who has, what am I missing?
Karl
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